Inquiry

If you asked an ordinary person, a small-town test-taker from a poor family, what they had dreamed of as a child, the answer would almost always be one of two things.

First, to earn lots and lots of money, buy all kinds of strange toys, and eat snacks they'd never been able to afford.

Second, to become a scientist. They might not know exactly what a scientist did, but they all believed it was a noble profession.

Huang Tian had been no exception. In elementary school, he'd repeatedly scored perfect marks in math and English. His parents, relatives, and teachers had encouraged him to study hard and become someone useful to society, and that was when he'd resolved to become a great scientist.

Later, in middle school and high school, his grades had remained near the top. But his hometown, Boyang, was a poor place with an average standard of education. Even though he'd ranked near the top of his grade, he was still far behind the top students in the city and the province. In the end, he'd only managed to get into the math department at Chang University.

As an undergraduate, he'd considered studying with all his might and trying to get into graduate school, then earn a doctorate. But financial pressure had forced him to abandon that impractical idea. While at school, he'd kept busy taking all kinds of part-time jobs, and as soon as he graduated, he'd plunged into the bewildering behemoth that was society.

Well, then he'd been laid off after just over a year.

In the bookstore, Huang Tian returned Modern Algebra to the shelf and thought to himself, After all these twists and turns, everything's come full circle...

Cultivation was about freedom. It was about having no regrets.

"Since I've been laid off, I might as well give this path a try. No matter what, top mathematicians and scientists never lack status, influence, or wealth..."

Besides, he wanted to use modern research facilities to investigate what spiritual energy, cultivation, and magical power really were. He also wanted to find out whether, on Blue Star, there were other paths besides cultivating spiritual energy—things like genetic modification, powered armor, or immortal consciousness...

He was intensely curious about all of it.

"First, I'll make a few achievements in mathematics. Once I've made a name for myself, I can delve into other fields..."

Huang Tian's lips curled into a smile. In a good mood, he slowly searched the bookstore for more math books, but after looking around, he found only one: a copy of Complex Analysis with a slightly yellowed cover.

Carrying the book, he sat down on the soft sofa to the west. Gentle light fell across the pages as Huang Tian turned them without hurry, his mind rapidly committing the knowledge to memory.

In less than half an hour, Huang Tian closed the book and leaned his head back against the sofa. As he gazed at the plain ceiling, the book's contents surfaced in his mind. They interwove with what he'd studied before, deepening his understanding of mathematics.

A long while later.

Bzz—

His phone vibrated once. Huang Tian knew Zong Wenjun had bought the Kun Tea. He stood, returned the book to the shelf, then left the bookstore and headed for the Kun Tea shop.

"Over here!"

Zong Wenjun wove through the crowd and cheerfully handed him a "jar" of Kun Tea. "Here's your Waguan Fuliang Snow Mountain!"

Huang Tian took it and realized the Kun Tea had been served in a pottery cup. A cream "snowcap" sat on top, sprinkled with a little crushed chili powder, while Fuliang Black Tea filled the cup below. It looked delicate and cute.

Of course, since it was a pottery cup, it was heavy in his hand—much heavier than an ordinary plastic cup. And once he'd finished the milk tea and washed it out, he could keep it at home and use it as a jar.

"I remember when I came here in my junior year, Kun Tea was still served in bamboo tubes. I didn't expect that to have changed."

Huang Tian ate a couple of bites of the dairy cream on top. It wasn't too sweet or cloying, and the chili powder wasn't spicy at all—it was purely decorative.

He took a sip of the tea and said with a straight face, "The black tea tastes the same, at least. It quenches your thirst."

Zong Wenjun smiled. "If the owner of the Kun Tea shop heard you say that, he'd be hopping mad and call you a philistine."

Huang Tian clicked his tongue. "I'm a vulgar fellow. I can't appreciate these so-called refined things."

As they chatted, the two wooden windows on the second floor of the Kun Tea shop suddenly swung open, revealing a man and a woman. The man wore a white long robe and a mask, and held a wooden flute. The woman wore a pink dress and a veil, with a guzheng set before her.

The next moment, the flute and guzheng began to play a lilting tune.

"'Love Through the Ages'!"

The young men and women below excitedly pulled out their phones to take pictures and videos. Zong Wenjun took a couple of pictures too, then aimed her phone at Huang Tian, who was holding his Kun Tea, and snapped several more.

The song ended quickly, and another novel melody began. More and more tourists stopped to listen.

After standing in a corner below for a while and finishing his Kun Tea, Huang Tian took out his phone to check the time. It was a little past eight forty.

"The lights at Tengwang Pavilion must be on by now. We can go see them."

"Let's go!"

It was a short ride, so Huang Tian and Zong Wenjun scanned two shared bikes by the roadside and rode toward the Tengwang Pavilion cruise pier in the cool night breeze.

They weren't planning to go up Tengwang Pavilion. To truly appreciate its nighttime scenery, they needed to see it from outside, and one of the best viewpoints was from a cruise ship on the Gan River.

They hadn't been riding long when they reached the cruise pier. They'd arrived just in time for the nine o'clock boat. After buying two tickets, they joined the queue and boarded an antique-looking cruise ship, then headed straight for the third-floor deck.

Many visitors stood on the deck, full of excitement. The clicks of cameras rose and fell around them as a tour guide in her thirties explained the history of Tengwang Pavilion, Chang City, and the Gan River.

"...Tengwang Pavilion was first built in the fourth year of the Yonghui era of the Tang dynasty. It was established by Li Yuanying, son of Tang Emperor Gaozu Li Yuan, when he served as governor of Hongzhou. It became famous through Preface to Tengwang Pavilion, written by the early Tang poet Wang Bo. Together with Yueyang Tower and Yellow Crane Tower, it is known as one of the three great towers south of the Yangtze..."

"...In 202 BCE, the Western Han general Guan Ying built a city here, which was called Guanying City. Over the past two thousand years, it has had many names, including Yuzhang, Hongzhou, and Longxing. It wasn't named Chang City until the Ming dynasty..."

"...Everyone knows the river beneath our feet is called the Gan River, but I'm sure many of you don't know where its name came from. In fact, before the Qin dynasty, the Gan River was called Yanghan, and in the Han dynasty, it was also known as Huhan..."

Woooo—

A long blast of the ship's horn drowned out the tour guide. The huge cruise ship slowly began to move, parting layer after layer of rippling water as it gradually made its way to the middle of the river.

The river flowed lazily, and the breeze stirred softly. On the east bank, high-rises stood in rows, their lights shining brilliantly, as if a river of stars had spilled from the sky. On the west bank stood the grand, ancient Tengwang Pavilion. Its lights blazed golden, making it look like a palace in the heavens.

"This must be what Wang Bo described as 'layered peaks soaring emerald, rising beyond the clouds'..."

Zong Wenjun was immersed in the grandeur of Tengwang Pavilion, while Huang Tian preferred the rippling river.

The moon shimmered on the river. The cruise ship swept it apart; after the ship passed, the waves rippled, the broken mirror came together again, and the bright moon shone clear.